The Cambridge companion to Verdi
By: edited by Scott L. Balthazar.
Contributors: Balthazar, Scott Leslie.
Series: Cambridge companions to music
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 336
Subjects: Verdi, Giuseppe, 1813-1901 -- Criticism and interpretation
Description: "This Companion provides an accessible biographical, theatrical, and social-cultural background for Verdi's music, examines in detail important general aspects of its style and method of composition, and discusses stylistic themes in reviews of representative works. Aspects of Verdi's milieu, style, creative process, and critical reception are explored in essays by highly reputed specialists. Individual chapters address themes in Verdi's life, his role in transforming the theatre business, and his relationship to Italian Romanticism and the Risorgimento. Chapters on four operas representative of the different stages of Verdi's career, Ernani, Rigoletto, Don Carlos, and Otello synthesize analytical themes introduced in the more general chapters and illustrate the richness of Verdi's creativity. The Companion also includes chapters on Verdi's non-operatic songs and other music, his creative process, and writing about Verdi from the nineteenth century to the present day."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 312-328) and index.
Table of contents: title: Verdi's life : a thematic biography / Mary Jane Phillips-Matz; title: The Italian theatre of Verdi's day / Alessandro Roccatagliati; title: Verdi, Italian Romanticism, and the risorgimento / Mary Ann Smart; title: The forms of set pieces / Scott L. Balthazar; title: New currents in the libretto / Fabrizio Della Seta; title: Words and music / Emanuele Senici; title: French influences / Andreas Giger; title: Structural coherence / Steven Huebner; title: Instrumental music in Verdi's operas / David Kimbell; title: Verdi's non-operatic works / Roberta Montemorra Marvin; title: Ernani : the tenor in crisis / Rosa Solinas; title: "Ch'hai di nuovo, buffon?", or, What's new with Rigoletto / Cormac Newark; title: Verdi's Don Carlos : an overview of the operas / Harold Powers; title: Desdemona's alienation and Otello's fall / Scott L. Balthazar; title: An introduction to Verdi's working methods / Luke Jensen; title: Verdi criticism / Gregory W. Harwood.